Seventeen years after his 10th birthday present turned into a starstruck first meeting with Darren Clarke, Rory McIlroy is desperate to ensure Europe's Ryder Cup captain leaves Hazeltine with equally happy memories.
McIlroy will make his fourth Ryder Cup appearance on the back of a dramatic play-off victory in the Tour Championship in Atlanta on Sunday, which also secured the overall FedEx Cup title and £8.8million payday.
And after quickly regretting labelling the biennial contest "an exhibition" before his debut at Celtic Manor in 2010, the four-time major winner is especially... read more

Related news

Seventeen years after his 10th birthday present turned into a starstruck first meeting with Darren Clarke, Rory McIlroy is desperate to ensure Europe's Ryder Cup captain leaves Hazeltine with equally happy memories.
McIlroy will make his fourth Ryder...

Matt Fitzpatrick will take property advice from Rory McIlroy as he contemplates the next step in a fledgling career which produced a memorable new high in the DP World Tour Championship.
Two years to the day after gaining his card, Fitzpatrick won his...

Matt Fitzpatrick will take property advice from Rory McIlroy as he contemplates the next step in a fledgling career which produced a memorable new high in the DP World Tour Championship.
Two years to the day after gaining his card, Fitzpatrick won his...

Matt Fitzpatrick will take property advice from Rory McIlroy as he contemplates the next step in a fledgling career which produced a memorable new high in the DP World Tour Championship.
Two years to the day after gaining his card, Fitzpatrick won his...

Rory McIlroy has set a short-term goal of more major glory and a long-term objective of surpassing Colin Montgomerie's record number of money list titles.
McIlroy's chances of winning the Race to Dubai for the third year in succession were effectively...

They say you should never meet your heroes, or certainly, at least, never expect a response if you ever write to them.
But Rory McIlroy appears to be the exception to that after he went out of his way to respond to one of his young followers.
The...